20 December 2006 9:08 AM

A religious revival for people who are not really religious

Read Peter Hitchens only in The Mail on Sunday

I am only posting this short article this week, as I am away from the office. First of all, I'd like to wish a happy and peaceful Christmas to all those who read or contribute here. I simply cannot reply personally to all the messages, letters or postings that I receive. But even - sometimes especially - where we disagree, I am always glad to hear from you.

I hope that this Christmas may see the beginning of a modest but definite return to Christianity in this country, where many people have for so long either despised it or been indifferent to it. I think there are, at last, signs that this may be happening. The news that the Church of England's Cathedrals have, in recent years, had to turn away Christmas worshippers because they are full up is quietly encouraging - especially given how enormous many of these buildings are.

Those of you who have no experience of the Church of England may find this slightly puzzling. Surely the C of E has thousands of churches, in every town centre, village and suburb. Why would people go to cathedrals, which are often a long way away and in city centres where parking is impossible, but not to local churches? I suspect this is because these people come from the Church's great lost generation, those now in their 50s and 60s who were brought up in the Anglican tradition but deserted all religious observance in their teens.

They were the last to see the C of E before it fell victim to pestilent innovators. They have vague but persistent memories of it, not all good, but not all bad either. Partly because this generation vanished from sight, the Church groped and flailed about, trying to find ways of pleasing and drawing back these deserters. They failed completely to do so, but that did not stop the modernising frenzy. It only grew worse. Well-liked hymns were dispensed with or rewritten. Formal, poetic services were turned into relaxed, chatty and wholly atmosphere-free occasions. The 1662 Prayer Book and 1611 Bible, both written in a sonorous, Shakespearean language, were replaced - and then re-replaced - by awkward, angular, jerky versions in which the poetry was lost and in which the meaning of obscure passages was often just as obscure as it was before. The buildings, too were changed. Old high altars were left in the shadows. Old pews were torn out. New central altars were surrounded by stackable chairs under bright lights. Ancient stones covered with carpet tiles.

And since, just like poetry, much of the force of prayer and scripture is in the bits which would be lost in translation, and since the seriousness of churches comes from their being polished in use, century by century, by thousands of our forebears now dead, this actually made the church's ceremonies less accessible to hesitant outsiders. They were no longer allowed to be vague or tentative about some of the enormous statements the churchgoer is supposed to assent to. There was too little mystery, too much urgency.

In many churches, a strange event known as 'The Peace' also became a serious trap for the unwary. Without warning, a shy visitor would find himself surrounded by people bearing fixed, awful smiles, threatening to shake his hand or - worse- actually embrace him. They can be very determined about this, and often brook no resistance. I know of one occasion where an over-enthusiastic handshaker was warned that he risked prosecution for assault after hauling an unwilling parishioner to his feet to compel him to take part in this ritual. He hadn't realised his resisting victim was a police officer.

Some parishes went ultra-Protestant, their vicars in open-necked shirts and jeans, leading singalongs. Others went more Catholic than the Pope, fogging the air with incense and processing about the place in elaborate embroidered robes. You never knew what you might get, until it was too late to flee. It was all very confusing and - to non-enthusiasts - exclusive and off-putting. These are almost all clubs for the keen, some of them thriving, some not, but all a bit forbidding to the hesitant visitor. And they had no space for the non-keen.

Yet many are not keen, but are interested. The man or woman who has been out in the world a little, and now in the light of experience feels the stirrings of a long-ignored, long-suppressed curiosity about Christianity, wants to be able to slip quietly in at the back, to hear familiar words and sounds. He or she may also want a little beauty in music and architecture, a certain permission to be less than specific, a chance to savour the spaces between words, the paradoxes, rhythms and ambiguities in which truth is often to be found. Such people do not want to be hugged, handshaked or approached by enthusiasts on their way out and pestered to socialise or fill in forms. They even welcome those little patches of unmodernised shadow, behind a pillar or in a corner, so that they can slip out as unobtrusively as they went in. If allowed to do so, they may actually come back.

The Cathedrals, for the most part, still provide most of these things. And if, this Christmas or at any other time, you are lucky enough to be near one of these buildings, which in many cases are among the great historic treasures of all mankind, not just of this country, may I make a suggestion, even if you are an atheist? That you try to attend the service called Choral Evensong? You may - just - catch something, very faint, very distant and very old, that is worth hearing and worth thinking about. In any case, I do not think anyone will bother you or demand to know if you are saved, born again or anything like that. And in any case, Happy Christmas.

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I am sitting in my own private home right now listening to loud music, a loudspeaker, and loathsome language saying that we are all going to hell if we don't join their religion. These are Jehova's Witnesses who are disturbing the peace and using public property to chant their vitriol. They can do this in their own churches if they like,
but the rest of us should not be made to listen to this late into the night. It's a lack of respect for citizens who need to sleep so that they can go to an honest job the next day.

I went to church until the Church of England installed turnstiles at Canterbuty Cathedral to charge people to go into this place of worship. Do you have to pay to go into the Catholic Wesminster Cathedral as you do Church of England Cathedrals?

At last some honesty about modernism; as an recently returned Anglo Catholic I revere the awesome power of the traditional Mass and consider new form of service to be lacking in both gravitas and solemnity.

We are approached by Beings who come from a different direction to our own. They are alien to our heirarchies and not part of our system. They will take as many as they can and follow a course of evolution beyond our comprehension.

I do so hate to be so cynical towards those with who I normally agree but in the light of your comment:

“The news that the Church of England's Cathedrals have, in recent years, had to turn away Christmas worshippers because they are full up is quietly encouraging - especially given how enormous many of these buildings are.”

I feel innately bound to rejoinder that this probably has more to do with our winter weather getting colder and colder over the past few years, hence driving those of us still out and about around midnight (as well as being sober enough to care about being too cold) to bob into the nearest Cathedral, to warm up and wait for the taxi queues to shrink a bit. But like I say this is just me being cynical so how about my being serious and daring enough to caution you Peter, as you teeter on the verge ‘backsliding’ into the realm of the doctrine of works as you hark back to so called halcyon days when you say:

“The buildings, too were changed. Old high altars were left in the shadows. Old pews were torn out. New central altars were surrounded by stackable chairs under bright lights. Ancient stones covered with carpet tiles.”

‘Oh Peter, Peter’, if people are determined to worship as a group then the company of other like minded people are all they need and as long as they are protected reasonably well against the elements whilst they meet. Who needs the opulence provided by artisans old or new?

And as for:

“Since the seriousness of churches comes from their being polished in use, century by century, by thousands of our forebears now dead, this actually made the church's ceremonies less accessible to hesitant outsiders.”

I am back to agreeing with you.

Meetings of true Reformed Christians centre upon texts that most authentically emulate those approved by the apostles in the first century AD. Texts, that when properly studied, do effectively caution against the ramblings, gimmicks, pomp and costumes of a millennia or two of thespians, who have been hell bent either on varying apostasy, or establishing and maintaining Popery

In answer to Simon Jones,and Colin. I suggest thye read up on Martin Luther and the Reformation. What things were like in this country before the Reformation. The Reformation enabled people to read the bible for themselves to see that this is so, before only priests were allowed to read the Bible.

I feel that Christianity might have something to learn from Islam in the way of deportment and conservatism.

Why do homosexual members have to be so shrill, are they not satisfied with being quietly (and warmly) accommodated ? Or would they really prefer Anglicanism in crisis ? It certainly seems so.

Why is the Church so flexible in its appeasement of others with new moral values and is this simply a response to market forces ?

Does Christianity always have to be nice ? (The version of the Bible I read was most discomforting.)I was shocked to learn that Jesus had an acid tongue and was not simply some sandal wearing hippy espousing 'Peace !'.

And must the church conform to law for the sake of political correctness? Will the clergy be prepared to risk imprisonment ?

I've attended congregations where an almost lunatic assembly went about proclaiming 'good news !' and where a newcomer could be forgiven for missing the point that Christianity is actually a response to 'bad news !' - this barely recieved a mention.

"You're saved !"
"Oh that's nice. Er ... saved from what, exactly ?"

If there are any ministers out there reading this then trust me - stick by your guns. Simon Cowell has just got very rich indeed playing a baddy - learn from this.

In this rootless age people don't want appeasers, they don't particularly worry truth, but they do want certainty and a rock to cling to.

Peter, I was shocked to read your article.I usually agree with your views on political subjects, but for a man with your intelligence,and experience of history,and world affairs to take the whole Christmas event seriously.......well I am amazed !!
Mid winter feasts etc were going on long before the event was 'ambushed' by the Christians.... And the Church of England was 'invented' by Henry the 8th, who then stole the churches from the catholics.
It is a fact that there is not one shred of evidence that ANY God exists, and there is no evidence that Any God told any Humans to build Churches and worship him.
The whole story is entirely 'man made'
And I am sorry to say Santa doesnt exist either ! Any way I hope you had a good 'mid winter' break.

As someone who began attending church at the age of 5, who was confirmed at age 11,who sang blissfully at the beautiful old hymns, and I am pleased to say, went to High Church, where the beauty of the service and the magnificent robes meant that we worshipping God who we fely needed that sort of rspect...I cringe when I enter the portals now.
Gone are the lovely hymns and oh dear the peace...I stand there eyes closed hands tightly clasped and ignore all comers...Sad to say i rarely attend these apologies for services....

The human mind is merely a pool of chemicals and electromagnetic pulses a brain which has low seratonin levels has low religious or spi/ritual impulses try reading something helpfull like RACE EVOLUTION and BEHAVIOUR, by J phillippe Rushton.

There is something tangibly unchristian about the manner in which you seem to be skulking around the pillars Peter, glaring sullenly at the rest of the congregation and snarling nastily at anyone who tries to shake your hand.

Convert your garden shed into a mini chapel and go worship by yourself, if that's how you feel!

On another note, is it not time for you traditionalist Anglicans to do the honest thing and convert to Rome? You've been whining about the principle-free C of E for years. But where can you have honestly expected a "religion" established solely for the purpose of allowing Henry VIII to fornicate with as many women as possible to have eventually ended up?

Once principles have been bent, they cease to exist. Therein lies the Church of England's original sin, it's inherent weakness which doomed it from the start.

You'd find the unwavering doctrine of Rome, enforced by such leaders as John Paul II and Benedict XVI much more spiritually fulfilling.

As an agnostic I have no particular preference as to any specific way of Worship, but as a human being I occasionally feel the pull to go and pray with a congregation of people - just because it feels good.

In such cases I prefer Catholic and Evangelical(especially the ones with Gospel choires) Churches simply because they cater to that side of the human phyche.

The faith or beleif is absolutely irrational but the feeling of being among the people who are having a good time singing and performing strange rituals to assure their well-being in this world and any next or other world is just so great and natural.

I would pray with the druids,the American or Australian natives and the voodoo people - because the feeling is universal,that is what people do to commune with each other and those parts of their souls that are starved.

I would strongly recommend anyone, the Church-going folk or non-beleivers regularily visit religeous services.
It is a soul-cleansing experience.

Some faiths took it upon themselves to exclude others from their worship.I would imagine as an agnostic that is a rather silly way of approaching their Deity.

For as long as we are collectively human,our cry to Heaven is identical in England, Africa or Mexico.

Again - I am an agnostic.I have no preconcieved ideas about whether there is God or not,and in what precisely form that God exists.

However it is an historical fact that people like to gather into groups and pray.
So what is the great dilemma here?
Go and pray as you wish,that is the whole law,as Alaister Crawly would say.

Hi Peter,
I always listen to your views with eagerness as,although you sometimes give the minority view, you are not afraid to state your opinion. However, to say that the C of E represents Christianity is somewhat of an overstatement. How can you possibly compare the simplicity of the life of Jesus Christ with the pomp and ceremony of the ritualistic church that we see to-day. Jesus and his followers were notidentified by the magnificence of their garb but were inconspicuous by the ordinary dress of the times. Also, we are left in no doubt of His teachings which we can read in the Gospels. Contrast these with the watered down teachings of the churches, then it becomes abundantly clear why we have the society we see to-day. When I say teachings of the church, after some 30years of attendance, I have still to find out what they are!! Unlike others who have writteb to you, I will not wish you a merry Christmas as this is in no way a Christian festival and is well documented as toits pagan origins. Regards V.Hardcastle

Peter,
I was very moved by your article. I keep Britian very much in my heart because God did so much in Christianity there over the centuries.(How can that legacy be wasted and abandoned?)
Yes, you've had a State Church there, which usually deadens voluntary and genuine Christian faith, but you also had the real thing mixed in which has benefited the world greatly.
I hate to see citizens of England seem to reject their entire history, and especially their Christian history because much of it was very good. All nations have made errors.

It is unfortunate that so many men reject God because of the defects of hypocritical men. God has not changed. And he warned us plainly about the evil in the hearts of men, even religious leaders.Yet men deny themselves the promise of eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ because of the offenses of hypocritical men. It is very sad.

We in America are suffering a similar malaise of casualness and irreverance in our churches. We don't have any of your majestic Cathedrals to remind us of the majesty of the God who is really there...if we will throw out the rock music and let him back into our churches again.
L. Beauchamp, USA

Can Shakti please not be so cryptic and explain who this "spiritual being who is not Christ" is?

I freely admit to being an atheist - after being a born-again Christian many years ago. I took my children to our local church a few days ago for a carol service, and will probably do it again next year - it is after all up to them whether they believe or not - but I didn't feel anything spiritual at all.

The Bible believing church will go underground as it is in China, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to be a Bible believing Christian in modern day England, the established church is lead by dead mens bones and whitewashed sepulchures, people are going back to the book. GOD has a remnant.
Best wishes Sir, I love to read your articles.

Besides an hallucinary idea of the Christ event, all Christmas means to most Brits is how much money changed hands.
There is a spiritual Being very close to the UK during the twelve holy days of Christmas -but it is not the Christ...

Ultimately all that Christmas is to most Britains, besides an hallucinary idea of the Christ event, is how much money changed hands over this period.
There is a spiritual Being very close to the UK over the twelve holy days of Christmas but it is not the Christ.

Oddly enough this is EXACTLY what has happened to the Roman Catholic church since the Second Vatican Council.

The old latin mass with its air of mystery (English translations in the missals with similar english prose to the BCP) was junked, the high altar and communion rail demolished and a small table plonked in the middle of the church with the priest facing the people to preside over a mass with 1960s language which is as colourful as a tower block, plus the dreaded, disease spreading, sign of peace and hymns that seem to be a mockery of worship. Lord of the Dance anyone?

The result has been a complete collapse with nosediving attendance and vocations. Fortunately owing to the efforts of various English people (many such as Agatha Christie who were not Catholic) petitioning the late Pope Paul VI, England was uniquely able to retain the old latin mass on rare occasions with the local Bishops permission.

This has since defied all expectations of it dieing out and spread worldwide, despite much episcopal resistance, and Rome has discovered that if you want young familes and priests in the church then allow the latin mass (which to the great shock of the 1960s radicals has a much younger age profile than "new" mass attendees, despite the scarcity of these services and the fact that they occur at unsociable times,eg 3PM on a Sunday)

As a result, early next year, Benedict XVI is going to allow ALL catholic priests to substitute the old latin mass (without having to ask their Bishop for Permission) and catholics will again be free to worship God, not each other, and worship free of handshaking, bidding prayers and all the other 1960's horrors.

Thanks for the reminder, Peter. Having haunted the Choir Loft in my local parish church in Pimlico as a child; and also having received much knowledge and special feeling at the Church School I attended in the same Parish; I too, am greatful for the Foundation given at a time, just before, the do-good-interferers started their 'new speak',P.C., filleting job on the National Church. I have since joined the LDS Chuch, partly because they actually have Standards. (Which, I believe, is one of your points regarding the gutting of the Christian Belief systems for the past 40 years.) I have very strong feelings as I listen to those verses and Hymns from that time in my life. These feelings are partly, Yes, Nationalistic. They tie in with the Cross of Saint George and the sense of uprightness and fairplay that were everywhere present in MY Church and School indoctrination. Thank God for them. Those who taught and led us, may have been imperfect or even hypocrites. I now realize that Hypocrisy is better for society than the damage done by letting it all hang out. I will always be greatful for the Church of England. To me , the C. of E. is really a reflection of the History of England and an acknowledgement and the embodiedment of a National Spiritual Psyche.

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